EGM, a magazine to which I was asked to contribute, hasnít paid me the full amount for stories which appeared in the magazine and online. Other stories I wrote for them were paid far past the one month stated in their contract as well.

Now for over seven months, I have been trying to persuade my editors there to write a check for pieces I penned about Sonyís DC Universe Online. Iíve sent gentlemanly emails. Recently, Iíve sent firm emails. Most recently, Iíve sent angry emails. Nothing works.

I even tried to contact the publisher, Steve B. Harris, via Facebook. Weíre Ďfriendsí on Facebook. He never responded. And the business person there, Jodi Bonestroo, didnít respond, either. Emails to executive editor Brady Fiechter, have also gone unanswered.

Each time I talk to Paul Semel, the original assigning editor, he seems bemused. Semelís a good guy and Iíve known him for a long time. Heís said heíd contact Brady about it. If he had the power, Semel would cut me a check himself.

But he doesnít. Yet Brady does have the power to get it done. Publisher Steve B. Harris certainly does.

EGM has gone through some tough times recently. They lost Patrick Klepek. And they also lost Sterling McGarvey. And they Andrew Pfister as well. All three are good, talented game journalists who left G4TV to go to EGM.

I can only conclude that the way EGM is run from the top down has become a complete, utter, stinking mess. Over the years, Iíve been lucky enough to have written for almost every publication imaginable Ė from Vanity Fair to The New York Times to small but potent blogs.

But Iíve never run into a non-payment situation that has gone on this long. Iím pretty sure it wonít happen again. Few in my long history of journalism have been this callous. There has been one other. This is the second.

Writers rarely write publicly about their woes with editors and publishers. Thereís the chance of getting blacklisted. Iíve never written about something like this before myself, not in the last month, the last year or in the last decade.

But I felt I had to write something. I founded the New York Videogame Critics Circle last year and promised to fight for writerís rights.

And in my narrative history of videogames, All Your Base Are Belong to Us, I give a tip of the hat to hardworking game journalists everywhere. So I had to speak up.

Thereís just never any excuse for welching on a contract. If you donít have the money to pay writers Ė and to treat them with respect Ė you shouldnít be in business.

And if you donít answer your writersí emails, you donít care about writers.

And if you donít care about writers Ė and EGM doesnít seem to Ė you should find another job.

EGM owes me $500, $400 for the stories, and $100 for expenses. (There were more expenses. But I thought I was part of a crew that cared as much about me as I cared about them. So I charged them half of what I actually incurred.) Iíd love to think theyíll pay.

But they probably wonít. Iíll probably have to take them to small claims court in Los Angeles. If they do pony up, Iíll write about it.

Yet itís not the money, either. $500 isnít going to change my life. Itís about caring about your writers enough to pay them for their craft. Itís about honesty, too.

If youíre thinking of writing for EGM, do think about the possibility that EGM might not pay up when you send an invoice. If personal experience is any indication, the people in charge donít seem to care about their writers one iota.

They must be way underwater. I briefly interned for a magazine a long time ago that was way behind on paying its freelancers, and it folded a few months after I left. They were broke. No excuse of course, but yeah, they know who they owe and writing letters is just going to be ignored. They don't have the cash and they have nothing else to say.

I knew EGM's writers exodus had something to do with money. The same thing happened to 1UP before its buyout. Every other week you'd hear another 1UP contributor leaving the site. That only happens if: 1.) The writers aren't getting paid due to the place being in financial hardship; 2.) The management are dicks. Seems EGM is a combination of 1 and 2.

Unfortunately, this isn't that rare. I'm going on five months now with about $550 in owed pay for some freelance games writing that I've done. I've heard all sorts of other horror stories from freelancers that have worked for a number of outlets

On the bright side, my issue might get resolved soon (so, I'm not going to name any names). It's just annoying to deal with.

It really was my favourite magazine, first magazine I bought with my own money when I was a kid. I even remember which issue I bought :) I have drawers at my parents' house filled with them, I might even have a spare issue with that amazing FFX art still in the shrink wrap... because they sometimes had issues with shipping internationally :P

Edit: It was the Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex cover, with Crash's PS2 model proudly displayed on the cover, with the caption "yes, that's actually an in game model". It stunned my childhood self.

I can confirm much of what he says in this article. While I have been paid for all the work I've done for EGM over the past year, and I continue to work for them, it's often taken three to four months to receive payment after final copy has been submitted. It's very clearly a cash flow problem, which is understandable. The only frustrating part is the lack of clear communication. Inquiries about payment typically fall on deaf ears and you just have to bear it.

I will also say that EGM aren't the only ones guilty of taking an extremely long time to process payment on freelance projects. I've had similar problems with both The Escapist and 1UP. These are lean times for both print and online publications, especially when those publications serve a comparatively small audience.

I can confirm much of what he says in this article. While I have been paid for all the work I've done for EGM over the past year, and I continue to work for them, it's often taken three to four months to receive payment after final copy has been submitted. It's very clearly a cash flow problem, which is understandable. The only frustrating part is the lack of clear communication. Inquiries about payment typically fall on deaf ears and you just have to bear it.

I'm not going to comment on the EGM situation - because I know nothing about this particular situation - but I did a little freelancing between Play and EGM, and I think in one of those cases (through a totally different magazine) it ended up being like six months before I was paid. When you submit the article doesn't really matter, I don't believe - it's when it runs that counts. Once my writing had for sure gone into the mag, then there was a period of time for processing the payment, and then I received it.

That's my limited experience with freelancing, which is something I admit to having very little knowledge about. All of the freelancing I've ever done was at points where I wasn't relying on that money to survive, so the extended wait it took to get paid was never something I cared about.

Don't you think there is a reason that credit card collectors don't send angry emails to people they are collecting from? Mainly because it doesn't work. The very least people should do is make phone calls (aka not emails or Facebook messages). Obviously face to face is best but not always possible or economical.

Shaming EGM into paying, as the author is attempting here, is a good method only if he has tried everything else within reason. Which in general I think he has.

I can confirm much of what he says in this article. While I have been paid for all the work I've done for EGM over the past year, and I continue to work for them, it's often taken three to four months to receive payment after final copy has been submitted. It's very clearly a cash flow problem, which is understandable. The only frustrating part is the lack of clear communication. Inquiries about payment typically fall on deaf ears and you just have to bear it.

I will also say that EGM aren't the only ones guilty of taking an extremely long time to process payment on freelance projects. I've had similar problems with both The Escapist and 1UP. These are lean times for both print and online publications, especially when those publications serve a comparatively small audience.

I hope you have funds dedicated set aside to cushion you through the delayed payment issue. Especially if this isn't an isolated issue and it's your main source of income. If it's just side money then I guess it's not as important.

Don't you think there is a reason that credit card collectors don't send angry emails to people they are collecting from? Mainly because it doesn't work.

"Angry" e-mails? No, but yes to incessant and harassing phone calls (on the hour, every hour), visits and snail mail. Pick up the phone and call everyone you think has a part in the payment process at the magazine and leave every one of them a voice mail, e-mail and printed letter in the mailbox every single day until they pay you. Never angry, just asking the status.

"Angry" e-mails? No, but yes to incessant and harassing phone calls (on the hour, every hour), visits and snail mail. Pick up the phone and call everyone you think has a part in the payment process at the magazine and leave every one of them a voice mail, e-mail and printed letter in the mailbox every single day until they pay you. Never angry, just asking the status.

I am confused. The author said he sent angry emails.

You sound like the woman who does in house collections here at my work. She will contact anyone and everyone in an attempt to get paid. Last resort is publicly shaming them with their customers and vendors if it's required. She does a good job on collecting needless to say. :)